Away
by DixieH
Summary: Set during Purgatory, this is a POV work Eames and Goren. Spoilers for the episode.
1. Chapter 1

This POV work is set in the midst of Purgatory and has spoilers for this episode. It may not make a great deal of sense without having seen Purgatory. - Dix.

**Eames catches up to Goren outside the diner.**

Eames watched him walk away. "I've got to get going," He'd said. He was changed from the last time she saw him. He had a purpose to his step. There was a destination in his head. It should have made her happy. It should have put her mind at rest, but instead it only increased her anxiety. She wanted him back on the job, back at Major Case at a desk across from her own. The revolving door partnerships of the last five months had been hell on her job satisfaction and her clearance rate. She was beginning to forget that she'd had her share of arrests before him. She was beginning to wonder if she could put a bad guy away without Bobby Goren.

Alex watched him walk away. It wasn't just the job, she knew that. It had taken her a while to _get_ Bobby Goren. He was an acquired taste and now it turned out that he was her preference. All the time they worked together, at least in her head, she'd called him friend. Initially she worried that he read her the way he read the perps. And then she understood that his ability to analyze her words and her actions had brought them to a level of partnership that she could never have with anyone else. She could say anything, be anything and his only concern after the job was her. It was easy to trust him and easy to be who she was, because he trusted her too.

Bobby walked away putting distance between them. He didn't trust himself with her. He couldn't talk to her for long, before she'd know. She could read him like a book. She'd know from his tone of voice, from his inability to make eye contact that there was something he couldn't share. He hated the distance between them.

Going to Tates had caused after shocks he'd never foreseen. He'd done it to save his family. He'd done it to save himself, but you can't sacrifice yourself to undo the past. So the after shocks had affected not only his nephew and his brother, but had made the walls that he'd built at the PD crumble. Losing the job had been humbling and depressing enough, but losing the regular contact with Eames had shattered him. She called, they talked, but he knew and she knew that if he didn't come back eventually the job would serve to separate them. He knew all of this as he walked away. He knew this assignment was his one chance to pull himself out of purgatory. If he were successful, he would have the chance to return to Major Case. He could return to her.

**Eames and Goren in the squad room at the end of the episode, after Goren says "See you in the morning".**

Goren watched her walk away. "See you," She'd said. She was changed from the time he'd seen her on the street. She was angry and she was hurt. She had been betrayed and she didn't like it. He was within inches of going after her. He wanted to sit beside her and let her yell until she ran out of words. He wanted her to accept his apologies. He couldn't protect her without his shield and his gun. How could he have her back if he wasn't sitting in a desk across from her own? However, he knew that she was immune to his words. She needed to think this through. She needed to decide what she wanted.

Eames walked away putting distance between them. She didn't trust herself with him. She couldn't talk to him without him knowing what the anger hid. She couldn't be in his presence without him hearing the fear and the rage that intertwined when she thought of that moment when she'd pointed her service revolver at his head.

His silence didn't anger her. She understood that following orders was the price he paid for his shield and his gun. He had to demonstrate his ability to follow the rules to regain the support of their captain and the Chief of D's. She was angry because in that instant with her finger on the trigger, their friendship, their trust and their partnership had dissolved. In her head, she'd believed he was dirty and her own distrust of him made her very very angry.

_I wrote it out of my own need to get into their heads a bit. I'd appreciate your feedback as this is the first LOCI fic I've written. Thanks for reading. - Dix._


	2. Chapter 2

_I haven't seen the episode after Purgatory so this is a little flight of fancy on my part. Thought the first part needed a little more so here it is. Thanks for your feedback. - Dix_

_Chapter 2 - Away_

Alex opened the door just a crack "Bobby." She was back to calling him by his first name. Her anger had eased somewhat. "What the hell?" Nevertheless her tone of voice echoed with irritation. "It's 5 am."

He'd knocked and rung the bell alternately until she'd answered the door. Her satin robe was belted at the waist, but it dipped dangerously in the front and skimmed the tops of her knees. Goren didn't notice.

"Sorry," he said. "Sorry," shifting his weight from one foot to the other. "I waited," he said. "I waited as long as I could." He licked his lips and patted his pockets. "The rat," he said. "I just need to know about the rat."

He'd woken almost an hour earlier after tossing and turning for what felt like hours. He couldn't say now, what about the endless dream had awakened him, but it left him with the cold certainty that Eames had put the dead rat in his desk drawer. He couldn't sleep until he knew and the only real way to know was to see her eyes.

'The rat," Bobby said. "I need to know."

"What rat?" She said. "Are you drunk?"

"No." he said. "Somebody put a rat in my desk."

"There was a rat in your desk?" She shook her head. "There's rats all over the city. Nobody put a rat in your desk."

"Dead." he said. "Dead rat."

This startled her. He saw the change in her eyes and the stiff irritation left her face. "Wait here," she said and closed the door.

She didn't bolt the door. He stood in the hallway, facing the door as if he was riding in an elevator. When the door open moments later, she was dressed in a dark t-shirt and jeans. Her hair was tousled from pulling the shirt over her head and her feet were bare. She swung the door wide and gestured for him to come in. His agitation hadn't abated. He paced the length of the room away from her and then turned towering over her.

"Rat" he said and nodded leaning into her field of vision.

"Sit down" she said. She touched him on the arm and he moved ahead and sat in the armchair, on the edge of the seat, barely bending at the knees, crouching ready to spring.

She walked past him and sat on the couch. "There was a rat in your desk drawer?"

He nodded.

"At work?"

He nodded again.

"A dead rat."

"Yeah."

"I didn't put a dead rat in your desk Bobby." She was careful to look him in the eye. He held her gaze for a moment and then she could see the tension begin to leak out of him like a balloon with a pinprick.

"Stoat called me a rat in the interrogation room."

"I heard him."

Bobby nodded and looked down at his shoes then back at her.

"He has friends at Major Case." Eames said.

Goren nodded. "Better if we weren't."

"Weren't friends?" She was puzzled.

"Maybe it's me he wants dead?"

She shrugged. "Maybe."

"I don't want you to be in the middle of this." He couldn't look at her.

"You don't have a choice. " She said. "That's the point of having a partner; so someone will have your back when you get in a jam." He nodded then leaned in a little. "I should have told you about the undercover."

"There were rules. I get it."

He nodded. "I couldn't do the work and protect you too."

"I know."

"You have every right to be angry."

She nodded and looked away. "I'm not angry with you."

This surprised him and he let it show. "You're angry with the Captain." He looked at her gauging the response. There was a barely perceptible shake of the head. His eyes narrowed and he looked away thinking.

"I'll save you the trouble." His gaze swung back to rest on her. "I believed it Bobby. I believed you were a dirty cop." She stood and turned away from him. " I've known you eight years, trusted you." She swallowed hard to control the emotion. "Trusted you with everything, but I believed it anyway."

He gave her a moment to quell the emotional tidal wave and then he stood quietly and closed the distance between them. He touched her shoulder gently with his hand . She turned to face him. "But you don't believe it now." He said.

"No. Just long enough to seriously consider blowing your head off."

"What changed your mind?"

She looked down and away. "You lowered your weapon."

"I made the right decision then."

"Yeah, nice going." She smiled then and looked up at him. He returned the smile. He turned towards the door then and took two long steps away from her. She watched him go.

"You know, " He said turning to face her again. "that I can't do the job without you."

"Don't flatter me." She said evenly. "Twenty seven arrests, twenty seven convictions in Narcotics."

His head bobbed while he thought of what to say. "We're partners Eames." He nodded. "It makes all the difference." He turned then and went out the door.

Alex nodded and whispered under her breath. "Yeah Bobby it does."

_Thanks for reading. I appreciate your comments. - Dix._


End file.
